No bipartisan coronavirus bill yet, Pelosi warns, Democrats ready own measure


Reuters | Updated: 22-03-2020 21:55 IST | Created: 22-03-2020 21:55 IST
No bipartisan coronavirus bill yet, Pelosi warns, Democrats ready own measure

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her fellow Democrats plan to introduce their own bill aimed at limiting the coronavirus pandemic's toll on the U.S. economy even though she still hopes to strike a deal with Republicans. The comments, made after a roughly one-hour meeting between the top members of Congress, sent mixed signals on whether the two sides can come to agreement on legislation.

"We will be introducing our own bill," Pelosi said as she left a meeting of top lawmakers, while saying negotiators were still talking and that she hoped for a bipartisan agreement. The bill, Congress's third effort to blunt the economic hit, envisages financial aid for average Americans, small businesses and critically affected industries including airlines.

Among the areas likely to generate controversy are those aimed at helping corporations, rather than workers, weather the crisis, as well as provisions on whether to allow companies to buy back their own stock. The virus has killed at least 380 and sickened more than 25,000 across the United States, leading governors and mayors to shut schools, businesses and many aspects of American life.

Over the past week President Donald Trump's administration has been pushing for aggressive steps to stem the economic hit, after Trump spent several weeks downplaying the virus' risks. Prominent Democrats on Sunday pushed back on the idea of propping up corporate America with the bill. Earlier, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted the White House and Congress would reach an agreement and Republican Senator Pat Toomey suggested there would be little opposition.

"I think it'll be very hard to vote against this," Toomey told NBC's "Meet the Press." (Reporting By Rick Cowan, Susan Heavey, Arshad Mohammed and Andrea Shalal; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Scott Malone, Lisa Shumaker and Daniel Wallis)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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